The Mystery of the Hanging Garden of Babylon

An Elusive World Wonder Traced

Stephanie Dalley

New description of a very early garden and the technology behind its water supply

Identifies the early occurrence of the "Water-raising Screw"

Links Assyrian texts and sculpture to later classical sources and explains legends surrounding the characters of Semiramis and Nebuchadnezzar

Reassesses specific sculpture in the British Museum

The Mystery of the Hanging Garden of Babylon

An Elusive World Wonder Traced

Stephanie Dalley

Description

Recognized in ancient times as one of the Seven Wonders of the World, the legendary Hanging Garden of Babylon and its location remain to this day a mystery steeped in shadow and puzzling myths. Now offering a brilliant solution to a question that has challenged archeologists for centuries, The Mystery of the Hanging Garden of Babylon is an exciting story of detection as well as a lavishly illustrated and vividly written description of a little-known civilization.

In this remarkable volume, Stephanie Dalley, a world expert on ancient Babylonian language, gathers in one place for the first time all the material on this enigmatic wonder. Tracing the history of the Garden, Dalley describes how deciphering an ancient Assyrian text--and comparing it to sculpture in the British Museum--provided the clues that enabled her to pin down where the Garden was positioned (it was not the Babylon we know today) and to describe in detail what it may have looked like. The author also offers a groundbreaking description of the technology behind the Hanging Garden's water supply, highlighting a very early occurrence of the "water-raising screw." And through her dramatic and fascinating reconstruction of the Garden, Dalley is also able to follow its influence on later garden design.

Unscrambling the many legends that have built up around the Garden, including questions about the roles played by Semiramis and Nebuchadnezzar, this intriguing volume shows why this Garden, with its remarkable innovations, deserves its place alongside the Pyramids and the Colossus of Rhodes as one of the most astonishing technical achievements of the ancient world.

The Mystery of the Hanging Garden of Babylon

An Elusive World Wonder Traced

Stephanie Dalley

Table of Contents

Dedication Frontispiece Acknowledgements List of Illustrations, plates and maps Time-line General Map Introduction 1. Drawing a Blank in Babylon2. Classical writers and their testimony3. Three pictures and Archimedes4. Sennacherib's Great Invention5. Engineers and Waterworks6. Confusion of Names7. The Palace, the Queen and the Garden8. Symbolism and Imitations9. Defeat and Revival at Nineveh and NimrudConclusion Appendix The Prism Inscription in translationBibliography Index

The Mystery of the Hanging Garden of Babylon

An Elusive World Wonder Traced

Stephanie Dalley

Author Information

Stephanie Dalley is an Honorary Research Fellow at Somerville College, Oxford, a member of Wolfson College, Oxford, and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London. An authority on the study of ancient cuneiform texts, she has worked on archeological excavations in Iraq, Turkey, Syria, and Jordan. She has written several books on the myths and culture of ancient Mesopotamia, with special reference to their impact on later civilizations, many of which have been translated into Arabic, Italian, and Japanese.

The Mystery of the Hanging Garden of Babylon

An Elusive World Wonder Traced

Stephanie Dalley

Reviews and Awards

"Deeply researched and rigorously argued -- and certain to raise both hopes and objections." --Kirkus Reviews

"[A] learned and never less than gripping study... There remain plenty of scholars who still stick by the traditional attribution of the wonder to Nebuchadnezzar, but I suspect that, with the publication of this book, Dalley will be adding to her already heavy-weight roster of supporters... [When] the inadequacies of a received tradition are as glaring as they clearly are in the case of the Hanging Garden, it is a cause for celebration that there are scholars of the calibre of Stephanie Dalley to propose a convincing alternative." --Literary Review

"[A] bold, clear and immensely interesting new book. Every good summer needs a controversy and Dalley's high-class book and sheer likeability have now given us an excellent one." --Financial Times

"This fascinating book reads more like a detective story than a scholarly account of an ancient civilization ... Ms. Dalley makes a brilliant and convincing argument." --Land & Business

"An enjoyable read throughout." --BBC History Magazine

The Mystery of the Hanging Garden of Babylon

An Elusive World Wonder Traced

Stephanie Dalley

From Our Blog

For centuries, the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World have captivated scholars as some of the most magnificent â and last remaining â representations of classical antiquity. Of those seven, the Hanging Garden of Babylon has particularly intrigued scholars, due in large part to the ambiguity surrounding its physical construction, geographical location, and enduring architectural legacy.

By Stephanie Dalley I once gave a general talk about ancient Mesopotamian gardens, and was astonished, when I prepared for it, to find that there was really no hard evidence for the Hanging Garden at Babylon, although all the other wonders of the ancient world certainly did exist.